I Won’t Complain
Phillipians 2:12-18
PRAYER: Eternal God, I ask that you hear my prayer as I strive to be humble, watch over your servant, that I survive when I stumble. May these your people be blessed by thee, and not impressed by me. That they might see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and walk more nearly with you Lord. Now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer! Amen!
INTRO: It is important that each of you know that you are here today b/c of Divine Providence. Not b/c of anything you have ever said or done, but b/c God predestined you to be here. Let me say it again, you are here b/c of God’s Divine Providence. Therefore, you should stop trying to figure out what it is you’ve done to deserve to get here, and just be happy that, like the Williams’ Brothers say, you’re still here! You made it through another days journey! God kept you here! Give God a handclap of praise just b/c He’s been good to you!
I came across something that I shared with First Baptist Muscle Shoals on last Sunday, and I just had to share with you folks here at home. ** Our world is filled with the young and the restless, and those who think they are bold and beautiful, only to find themselves living in the heat of the night. While the days of our lives are filled with crime scene investigations, many find themselves in the general hospital because there is no law and order. Consequently, Ryan has no hope, and it appears that all my children have never been touched by an angel but are looking for an American idol to take them to another world!
HONOR, REVERENCE, THANKS…
TEXT: Phillipians 2:12-18. Key verse 2:14.
BODY: I begin this afternoon with a question. Do you ever get tired of your life? Do you ever get tired of the same old routine? The same ‘ol same ‘ol? Don’t you ever get tired of just going through the motions? You get up every morning out of that same bed, put on them same clothes, and walk to the same table. You eat that same old breakfast, pack the same lunch, put the same kids on the same bus, kiss your same old spouse goodbye, and drive that same old car to the same old job. Which leads to you getting off at the same time, driving down the same streets into the same driveway, having the same dinner, watching the same old TV shows, and getting into that same old bed. All of this, just so you can get up the next day and do it all over again! And we call this life! That’s not life!!! In the midst of this journey, I have found something to be very disturbing. I see us falling into this routine, not only in life, but also in church! I wish I had some help in here today! Instead of getting up in the morning and wondering what the devil is going to do to you today, you ought to throw the covers back and say I wonder what I get to do to the devil today! I don’t know about you, but I double-dog dare any devil out of the smoking, belching, black pit of hell to even think it can come against me! Because greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world! Now, that is power! What kind of power? Cancer-erasing power…crippled leg straightening power…heart disease eradicating power…blood pressure changing power…pornography destroying power…life changing power! Power! Wonder-working power! Somebody say preach white boy! **It has been said that a church that is supported by tea parties, ice cream socials and fried chicken is as weak as the tea, as cold as the ice cream, and as dead as the chicken!!!
The story is told of 2 hunters that fly north to go elk hunting, just as they did the year before. During their hunt, they are successful, and kill 6 large elk. As the pilot returns to pick them up, he tells the men that only 4 elk can come on the plane, due to weight restrictions. The men argued that 6 were allowed last year, and eventually the pilot gave in. They took off, and in a few minutes….CRASH!!! As they were climbing out, 1 hunter asked “ do you know where we are?”. The other replied, “ I think so, looks like the same place we crashed last year!”! We don’t mean to, but we settle into a routine. If you do what you’ve always done, you get what you’ve always got!!!
**In the book of Isaiah the people of Israel were experiencing spiritual softness. They had a desire for God to do something in their life. They were tired of being in a rut. Some of us are that way today. Your life has the same things it had a year ago. You find yourself searching for meaning. Isaiah tells the people the same thing that I want each of you to know today. That God has something incredible for each and everyone of you. You’ve just gotten so caught up in life, in a routine, in church, that you have forgotten what a joy it is to serve the Lord!!! There is more to life than what we are experiencing. You see your life is not based on your own ability, but the Spirit that dwells within you. Not your ability, but your expandability! Let me ask you this! Which is bigger, a water bottle or a balloon? Water bottle, of course. Now, which holds more water? Balloon. Why? The bottle is restricted, it cannot expand! See, it’s not about your size, it’s about your willingness to grow! In order to realize your calling from God you must expand your capacity.
*Now, why can’t we expand? I’m glad you asked! Our churches have become filled with a softer breed of believers. We act like we gotta be spoon fed spiritual junk food by a pulpiteer whose job is not to feed you but entertain you. The order of the day for our churches is entertainment, and not intercession! We want to be entertained by a preacher who has been selected not on the basis of his prophetic call and Godly anointing, but rather on the basis of his Las Vegas style and his ability to make you shout! Comfort and convenience has replaced conviction! Rebellion has replaced repentance! We can go to the football game and shout and clap like it ain’t nothing , but let somebody catch the Holy Ghost! As soon as a saint of God, who has real conviction in his/her heart, starts to shout his shout, clap his clap, and dance his dance, we wanna look down our religious noses, and point our sanctified fingers and label them as fake or out of control! First thing we say, “ she ought to quit her mess”! Ya’ll got to talk to me! You see we’re so much in jealousy and competition that we miss God! We’re too busy out-dressing, out-preaching, out-singing, and out-praying each other. Baby, I am what I am not b/c of my friend, but b/c of my enemies. You are what you are b/c some folk somewhere along the line mistreated you, talked about you, and drove you to your knees! I’m not who I am b/c of my ministry degrees, not b/c of some tests I passed or not b/c of somebody’s book I read. But simply b/c somebody a while back did me wrong and made me hit my knees!!! Anybody ever did you wrong? Anybody ever made you fall to your knees? Anybody ever made you put your face to the ground and cry like you’ve never cried before? Somebody say thank you Lord! Thank you for my enemies!! How much of this filing into pews and putting on suits and dresses and choir robes and singing and praying and pretending and playing is it gonna take? How long until you shake yourself and say this is not what I was born for? This is not what He died for! This is not what He kicked His way out of the grave for! If there is nothing more to this whole thing than what we’re doing, then why did He say I give you power over all devils! Why did He say the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church? How long until we recognize the reason He sent His Holy Spirit was to enforce and expand the boundaries of His kingdom? Thy kingdom come…to your breakfast table…to your living room…to your body, your business, your friends, and your neighbors! Thy kingdom come…Thy will be done…on earth as it is in heaven! There it is, earth and heaven! Flesh and blood have not revealed to you, but my Father which is in heaven. If any 2 of you on earth agree as touching any 1 thing, anything you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Don’t you understand you are the conduit, you’re the glue, you’re the breaker! Good God, did ya’ll hear me? I said you are the breaker! Thank you Holy Spirit! Do you understand that somewhere along the Tennessee River there is a power generating plant? Do you know that power is sent through great lines and it comes to stations and it is then ported out somewhere else. Power flows through those lines. Do you understand that power is generated somewhere else? For we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power might be of Him and not of us! Good God Almighty! I’m not trying to get you worked up or nothing, I’m just trying to get you to understand what’s available to you! Back in the back of this building is a gray box. Inside that box are several circuit breakers! When you flip that breaker, a connection is made! Without that breaker between the source of the power there can be no manifestation of that power! God says you are the Sons of Perez! Get your Bibles and look in Acts 1:2. “until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen”. Circle the word CHOSEN! Whom He had chosen!!! The divine prerogative of initiation belongs to God and not to us! What am I talking about? You didn’t choose Him, He chose you! Searching through the ages, he found you! **Nehemiah chapter 11 says Jacob had 12 sons. One of them was named Judah. Judah and Tamar had twins. Tamar began to give birth to twins. The first twin received the birthright, the inheritance, everything. The second born got nothing! Down through the birth canal came the first born twin, but the midwife had a problem b/c that twin stuck his arm out of the womb first. You mothers know babies ain’t supposed to come out arm and shoulder first! When suddenly that arm went back up in the womb, and suddenly you see the crowning head of a baby. There was a struggle inside that womb! You see, baby #2…that held back baby…that pushed down baby…that you ain’t never gonna be nobody baby…that you always gonna be broke baby…that I’m always sick baby…that I ain’t never gonna afford a house like that baby…that one that wasn’t supposed to get anything baby recognized that wait a minute, I’m not just gonna set up in here and let somebody else take what belongs to me! Baby #2 grabbed baby #1 by the nap of the neck and jerked him back into that womb and said EXCUSE ME! Touch your neighbor and say EXCUSE ME, I’m on my way to my inheritance! Say EXCUSE ME, but I ain’t letting nothing stand in my way! Look at your neighbor and say if you even halfway act like not wanting your miracle, I’ll knock you out of the way, climb up your back, jump off your shoulders, and take my blessing and your blessing too! I’m gonna get mine!!! When the baby came out, the midwife asked Judah what to call him. Judah said “I will call him Perez”. Perez, which means translated…the breaker! I will call him the breaker, the one who will manifest the power, and make a connection between the source and the light.
**Oh, Lord we don’t wanna ask too much!!! Lord, we’re not asking you to stay all day and all night, but if you could just stop by for a minute!!! Oh, are you listening Jesus? Can you hear me Lord? Lord can you help us? In whatever situation we’re in Lord, can you help us? We might be in need Lord, but we’re not complaining! We might even have to cry sometimes, but Lord we’re not complaining! Lord, we know we got trouble, but trouble don’t last always! We know we got pain Lord, but joy cometh in the morning! We know we’re in darkness, but we can look to your marvelous light! We know we’re in a valley, but thank God we can look to the hills from where our help comes from! Oh, are you listening Jesus? Oh Lord, we might cry a little bit, but we won’t complain!!! I won’t complain!!! Anybody know that song? Anybody know that song? Somebody’s gotta know it! Somebody sing a verse of it! It doesn’t matter who, somebody just sing us a verse! …….Thank you!
I won’t complain!!! Put your hands together if you won’t complain! Somebody say thank you Lord! Somebody shout if He’s been good to you! I heard Job say he lost everything he had, but I also heard him say “ I won’t complain”!!! Don’t you complain! Don’t you dare complain! B/c no matter how bad things may seem, they can always get a little bit worse! God never promised things would always go your way, but He did say I will never leave you nor forsake you! Oh, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life!!! Oh, Lord…I won’t complain!!!
*2 Corinthians 5:17 tells me I am a new creature in Christ. I’m so glad I’ve been changed! Has He changed you? Let Him change you! Let Him get you out of your routine! Let Him get you out of your rut! Let Him show you that there is so much more to life? Anybody here been changed? Are you glad about it? Jesus said “let him who is w/o sin cast the first stone”. So why do we come to church throwing stones? Why you throwing rocks when you live in a glass house yourself? Let me tell you, keep on throwing! The next time somebody throws some rocks at you, tell them keep on throwing! Throw all the rocks you want! Throw all the stones you can find! Momma used to say, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”!!! As long as I’ve got Jesus, you can’t hurt me! Like the young folks say, you can’t see me! Talk about me as much as you please, but the more you talk the more I bend my knees!!! OH, I know I’ve been changed! The angels in heaven done signed my name! Oh, Lord no matter how bad things seem, I won’t complain!
***Thank God for the passion, the bleeding, the suffering, the crying, the sighing and the dying. Thank God He was slung up between heaven and earth and bled! Bleeding by which the very veins of God Himself were empty. Thank God that Roman Centurion thrust a sword in His side and blood ran freely down His naked side and dripped off of His toes into bloody pools on the earth!!! Thank God ELI, ELI, LAMA, SHABAKDANI !! My Father and my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And at noon day, from noon till 3 o’clock in the afternoon it was as black as midnight. As the earth began to convulse, women began to scream, men began to shout, children were paralyzed. As the earth stood still, and as God Himself weighed in the balance. There was a moment when He was dead. Never again would you smell the smell of a rose, never again would you be able to put your hand against the cheek of an infant and feel the softness of life, never again would the sun break on the horizon. He was dead! But thanks be to God 3 days later!!! They didn’t have to wait long, history didn’t have to wait long, hell didn’t have to wait long, heaven didn’t have to wait long! 3 days later there was a rattling at the gates of damnation, as the prince of God lifted them off their rusty hinges, flung them over to one side, went wading through the millenniums of time and its ashes, and grabbed the devil by the nap of his neck, cast him off his imperial throne, put one foot on the devil and the other one on the crumbling empire of death, raised His hands to the Father and announced…..I am Alpha, I am Omega, I am the first and the last. I am He that was and is and is to come! He who was dead, but now I live, and b/c I live you shall live also! I don’t know if anybody in this house is even happy that on the 3rd day the stone got rolled away and an angel said Mary go and tell…the Son of God is risen!!! Jesus is alive and well! Slap somebody a high-five and tell them He lives!!!
…the doors of the church are open…
